New awards up for grabs

A new prize up for grabs at one of Lancashire’s leading business awards will recognise the county’s diverse engineering companies.

The Be Inspired Business Awards, the BIBAs, has introduced an Engineering Business of the Year to the 18 categories up for grabs at this year’s competition.

It has also introduced a Transport and Distribution Business of the Year category which is open to businesses across the county.

Denys Smith-Hart, of IT specialist Intersys Micronics which is sponsoring the Engineering Business of the Year category, said he hoped the new category would provide an opportunity to showcase the range of engineering businesses in the county.

He said: “Lancashire has a healthy representation of engineering companies ranging from those involved in civil engineering to aerospace, pharmaceuticals to computer engineering, there is a wide range.

“I hope that the arrival of the Engineering Business of the Year category at this year’s BIBAs provides an opportunity to display the level of quality we have in this part of the world.

“These awards are consistently a source of inspiration and I am sure that the 2018 will be no exception, and Intersys is delighted to be involved for another year.”

The awards’ categories include Tourism and Leisure Business of the Year, Construction Business of the Year and Professional Service Business of the Year.

The deadline for applications closes on April 6 with the first round of interviews getting underway on May 14.

In 2017, the lifetime achievement award, Lancastrian of the Year, was awarded to Simon Rigby, the multi-millionaire entrepreneur behind the renaissance of Preston’s Guild Hall complex.

West Lancashire pub The Wayfarer was the winner of the Family Business of the Year while the Business Person of the Year prize went to Ashley Hackett, of the Blackpool FC Community Trust